


anywhere (with you)

by wayverse (pseudotopia)



Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluffy Ending, M/M, Mutual Pining, but like not major spoilers i think, how to tag??, i really did try, if u squint there r 5 other relationships, is the mutual pining obvious? u tell me, lumark best boys, oh omg there are marvel spoilers here kind of, squint a lil and tilt ur head 180 and u might see best frat bros johnjae
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:33:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23107024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pseudotopia/pseuds/wayverse
Summary: Yukhei doesn’t think the world of comics could bring him anything particularly exciting. He was wrong.
Relationships: Mark Lee/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 59
Collections: 99' ft 00' fic fest





	anywhere (with you)

**Author's Note:**

> #FT343  
> u may skip my sap if u want ! if not:  
> ♡ mods: i cant thank you both enough for hosting this fest. it's been one of my favorites to be a part of and i admire all your efforts and hard work. you've been patient with me and helped me more times than i can count.  
> ♡ prompter: i really loved writing for this prompt, so i thank you 1000x over for this. i hope truly hope this fic was everything you envisioned, and that you'll forgive my shortcomings/misinterpretations to your prompt.  
> ♡ readers: i hope you enjoyed this fic as much as i enjoyed writing it.. i thank you guys for giving this piece a chance.

Donghyuck waves down the tall boy in the crowd in the halls, "Look here, idiot!”, he yells. The boy turns his head to face Donghyuck and waves back happily, ignoring his friends echoing insult. He begins walking at a faster pace to reach the other, clumsily bumping into people on the way.

"Hey, I was looking for you all day! Where's Jaemin?", Yukhei asks.

"I waited here till your lecture finished and you're wondering about Jaemin?", Donghyuck feigns hurt, "He said he would meet us at lunch, hurry up before we lose our table." He grabs the others arm and drags him to the cafeteria, where they are welcomed by new faces seated at their table. 

Donghyuck whines, "I told you we needed to hurry! We lost our table thanks to your good for nothing long legs". Yukhei flicks his head and points to the boys approaching 'their' table, "Look, Renjun and Jaemin are going over to get us our table back".

Donghyuck rubs his forehead to diffuse the pain and retorts, "Of course they are, I always knew they were smarter than you."

They approach the table, with lunch trays in hand only to find Renjun and Jaemin sitting alongside and chatting with the unfamiliar boys. Jaemin looks up, noticing Donghyuck's sulking look. "Donghyuck, Yukhei! This is Jisung, Chenle and Hendery!", he turns to the three boys across from him "these are the guys I was telling you about!"

Donghyuck suppresses his discomfort as he greets the new boys. "A heads up would've been nice,” he whispers to Renjun, who only smiles and pulls him to take a seat beside him. Yukhei makes himself comfortable with the new boys, breaking the ice with a horrible pun. Yangyang and Xiaojun join their friends, apparently already aware of the new additions to the friend group. They take turns giving a crash course in getting to know each other, with Yukhei setting the stage for the greetings first.

"Hey I'm Lucas! But you can call me tonight,” He introduces himself with a wink.

Hendery is the first to react, slapping his hand on the table through a fit of laughter, "Oh god, I've never heard that one before." Chenle and Jisung humor the boy and laugh along, obviously embarrassed.

"Ignore him, he's always like that—and in case you were wondering, no he hasn't been able to get anyone like that," Jaemin comments.  
Chenle’s jaw drops at the revelation, "No way?! I don't know anyone in school who hasn't had a crush on him, he could easily get someone with a joke like that—be honest, are you sure he's even tried?"

"Hm.. He hasn't tried it on anyone outside of us but even if he did, he would probably never say it seriously. That, and the fact that he has to be the most boring person ever and no one can match ittt,” Donghyuck sings the last part, poking lightly at Yukhei’s sides.

"In my defense, you’re all ugly. I couldn't force myself to like you guys even if I wanted to,” Yukhei waves his fork over each of them pointedly. Donghyuck and Renjun exchange glances and burst into a fit of laughter, and Yukhei raises his brows to let him into their silent conversation.

The new friend’s bond over making fun of Yukhei, "the whole package who could have it all”— “Oh come on, that makes me sound so edgy!”— and their love of Marvel. As they make way to their respective classes after a lunch break, Jisung turns to the others excitedly, "There's a new comic store opening down in Incheon on Saturday by the way, we should all go check it out. I heard it's going to be huge! Mark and Hendery are working the store the first day too, it’d be awesome." They excitedly agreed on the plan, deciding to sleep over at Jisung's the night before so they can be as close to the Outlet mall for the grand opening.

.

The weekend couldn't come faster for any of the boys, as they buzzed all week about finally having a place to go and hang out beside PC rooms.  
Friday night consisted of games of truth or drink, beer pong and horribly strung insults being passed between one another. During this, the boys discover Yukhei hasn't watched a single Marvel movie. "Why are you even coming tomorrow?!", Chenle exclaims.

Yukhei puts his hand up in surrender, "I just wanted to hang out with you guys! Besides I've played all the games and I think you all know more than enough to cover for me tomorrow."

Chenle shakes his head disapprovingly and tells Jisung to put on Captain America. He drags the boy to the sofa and the next thing Yukhei knows, everyone's snuggled in front of the TV as the movie begins, "Is this necess—"

"SHH, it is! You can thank us tomorrow morning", Hendery pats Yukhei's back.

They only get through the first few solo movies before the boys knock out, but the next morning Yukhei is sure there's no way out of this new hole his friends have dragged him into.

"Ok, so who is your favorite superhero?", Chenle asks as they brush their teeth. Yukhei grumbles, but responds when jabbed in the hip, "Ow, okay! I don't know them well enough.. Maybe Thor?", he replies with uncertainty.

Chenle seems to agree and leaves him alone. After a light breakfast, the boys tidy up and head to the mall together. When they arrive, there is unsurprisingly no line, since the mall is just getting ready to open for the day.

"We're seriously going to wait for two hours in a line that hasn't even formed yet?", Yukhei complains.

"What else would we do?", Xiaojun jokes.

The boys set up their blankets and some food near the entrance, and Jaemin pulls out playing cards to pass time. People join them in the line as the hours pass by, and they make new friends in line while waiting.

Hendery comes later with another boy trailing close behind, “Look who I brought!”.

The boy waves at the others, “Hey, I’m Jeno. Sorry I couldn’t come to your sleepover last night Jisung— I hope they didn’t scare you away yet.”

“Unlike you, they actually like hanging out with us,” Chenle shoots Jeno a look.

Xiaojun and Renjun have classes with Jeno so their meeting is nothing new, but they were surprised to know that he likes the MCU enough to come out for an opening.

"I mean you only mentioned it once or twice when talking to us, and we're always trying to get you to join our conversations!", Renjun argues.

"I love the movies and comics but I'm not.. obsessed like that,” Jeno explains, "I'm really only here for a friend who works here, the rest of these guys cover for my love of it," he points back at Jisung, Chenle and Hendery.

Hendery turns around, “Oh come on Jeno, you got us into it. Don’t be so modest!”

Jeno rolls his eyes and joins the conversation behind him.

Yukhei can only discern 'T'challa', 'Wakanda' and 'Second Movie' from beside him— he was sure he had definitely watched .. Black Panther? on the plane to Hong Kong once. So maybe he wasn’t as out of the loop with the MCU as he made himself out to be.

He doesn't try to insert himself into their conversation in case he says something that didn't happen in the movie, leaving the others to engage in heated conversations about the ending of Avengers: Endgame. "Ok but you do know that now, Peter's all alone right? How can you be okay with that?!", Xiaojun argues.

He's greeted with slews of shushing and one particularly exaggerated response from Jeno. "Oh please, Peter isn't a baby."

"Mark would fight you on the spot if you said that to his face", Chenle laughs.

"Good thing he's stuck in there and not waiting in the line with us then", Jeno lifts his phone to show the others the time, "10 minutes till opening, get your wallets  
ready!"

.

Opening day of any store, let alone a comic store in Incheon would be crowded, but nothing in their imagination came close to what the boys witnessed. "Are you sure we're the first people in here?", Jisung asks quietly.

"Mark did say some people were allowed special access, but I didn't think that meant a store-full of people", Hendery says, betrayal lingering in his voice, "Did he not tell me about it because I told him I wouldn’t open with him? Now we have to wait around until the rush dies down so we can get his discount."

Jeno laughs, “Can’t you have given it to yourself? Anyway, Mark gave me his key ”. He turns to the rest, "You guys can come too, if we had known that you guys waited so long we would've given you special access passes anyway."

It's a sleek room, with red and white walls covered with comic book characters, and sofas with a TV that had more video games than the room's fridge had food. There's a bathroom, mini kitchen and a dining area with another TV just for it. The setup is amazing for a break room, but the boys seem to find interest in only the seemingly endless stacks of unopened boxes near the back of the room. They rush to the back at once, aweing at the pristine condition of the items.

"It’s not stealing if we just take it from here since these aren't marked…right?", Donghyuck drags his hands across the comics laid on a table.

"I'm pretty sure it's still stealing, Hyuck", Yukhei swats his hand away from the books.

Jaemin tells the two to shush, signaling them toward another box, "Check this out, limited editions!"

"Ok there's no way I'm listening to you for this one.. I'm taking it", Donghyuck picks one up gently with a cheeky smile.

Yukhei tries to take the comic book from Donghyuck's hand but the other is a step ahead of him, quickly ducking behind Yangyang.

Yangyang spreads his arms so Yukhei can't get to him. "I'll make sure Hyuck will pay for it, promise!"

"Good, otherwise your boyfriend would be a thief,'' he scoffs.

"Is it bad that I would love him still?", he asks innocently.

"Yes.. yes, it would be very bad"

"I could just pay back those guys’ friend Mark back later.. he can keep the cash and I'll enjoy my limited-edition comic book," Donghyuck offers.

Yukhei shakes his head, looking around the room for anything that piques his interest. He finds Xiaojun, Hendery and Jeno huddled around a bunch of funko-pops.

"Are you sure you can open these like that..?", Yukhei asks.

"Why are you so worried about what is or isn't allowed? Go patrol the actual store if you're so worried about people stealing", Jeno waves him off.

So Yukhei does— he heads out of the break room to patrol the store for any suspicious activities. An hour had passed when the tall boy deduced his friends really weren't going to come out till the rush died, so he decided to browse through the store himself.

He went to an isle filled with funko-pops like the one in the back room, wondering what it is that makes these figurines more special than his Sam and Dean ones from Supernatural.

(It's just not realistic Yukhei, these guys can't have possibly lived through THAT much", Xiaojun had argued, eyes fixed on his phone.  
"Of course, it's not supposed to be realistic, it’s a tv show! Not like your Marvel characters are any more realistic anyway. How is it possible that Spider-Man got bit by a radioactive spider and it gave him superpowers?!” Yukhei refuted. Xiaojun looked up to mock Yukhei for a moment before telling him to join his game. “You know I’m right,” he whined, pulling out his phone.)

.

He's so engrossed in trying to find out what it is about them that Xiaojun is willing to buy himself every character— _when all Yukhei asks for is a single figurine!_ —that he doesn't realize someone is tapping him until they come directly in his periphery.

The boy clasps his hands together softly and asks, "Um.. Can I help you with something, sir? You seem like you can't decide which one you want."

Yukhei is stunned by the boy’s appearance, his eyes tracing every part of his face down, from his soft brown hair to his worn-down sneakers. He has excessively gelled down black hair, with dark brown eyes and eye bags that are concealed in what seems like a half-assed attempt at makeup. Yukhei wants to laugh at how he looks but the boys warm smile stops him from saying anything that might wipe the expression off his face. He isn't much taller than the boy, but he seems especially small to Yukhei, who is still staring at the boy with a lopsided grin.

The boy waves his hand in front of his face, taken aback by the sudden pause on both ends. He shakes his head a little and repeats, "Do you need help or are you just browsing?"

Yukhei nods slowly, earning a confused 'ok' from the worker. The boy attempts at a last chance for customer service and hands him one of the funko-pops off the shelf.

"Here, Spider-Man is always a good bet haha", he hands him one of the figurines off the shelf.

_oh my god, he literally said haha._

"Yeah, okay. Thanks", he looks down to the gold name tag on the boy’s shirt... Mark. "Thanks, Mark.” Mark leaves with a simple nod and Yukhei lets out a breath he doesn’t know he was holding in.

Yukhei looks around for the nearest exit to take his leave because oh my god I'm crushing on a nerd, and if his friends saw him like this they would never let him live it down. He circles around the aisles a bit to make sure the boy isn’t still there and makes a hurried run for the door when he’s sure no one has seen his panic. In the midst of his panic, he forgets to put the figurine back and the system alarms blare through the store.

He turns and waves awkwardly to Mark, who frowns upon seeing it's the same customer from earlier.

"Are you not going to pay for that?", he asks from across the store.

"Yes? You see— Actually no. I can’t, I have to be somewhere", Yukhei places the object on the nearest stand and rushes out the door.

"It's a pull doo—", Mark cringes at the sound of the door being pushed harshly by the tall boy, whose head hits the glass.

Yukhei rubs his head and lets out a quiet, "Mhm.. Yup, I see that now". He pulls the door and scurries to the backside of the store, knocking rapidly on the door his  
friends were camping in.

Chenle cautiously opens the door and motions his hand for the other's entry, "Why are you coming from the back? There's an entrance from the inside of the store.. remember the one we came from?" Chenle pokes Yukhei's forehead, "Was that bruise there before?"

"Ow! Yeah I remember, I just went out to get some fresh air," he says, swatting Chenle's hand from his forehead, "What bruise??"

He opens his front camera to see what the boy is talking about, finding a faint purple spot on the right side of his forehead. A door can do that? He brushes his hair to hide the spot, "What bruise?" he winks and turns to the rest. Chenle makes a note to ask about it later, trailing behind the boy.

"Did you catch any thieves?", Chenle asks, grabbing a small packet of pocky from the supply in Donghyuck's bag.

"Uh.. no, but I did see your friend Mark.. I think"

"Why didn't you tell him to come back and get us?? Now he won't know where we are,” he whines.

"Jeno got the key from him, if he wanted to come get you guys I'm sure he would have by now", Yukhei laughs.

Jeno throws his head back at the mention of his name, "You could have at least invited him here, Hendery's shift isn't until later today. He's probably lonely."

"You work here too?", Xiaojun points at Hendery accusingly, "Why can't you just give us your employee discount!?"

Hendery shrugs, "None of you asked but I really thought you already knew? Besides, Mark will be back here any momen—"

"I can't believe this, I could've owned these figurines and special editions hours ago and be at home admiring them right now!", Donghyuck slumps into the sofa.

"Think of this as a special bonding time!"

"I don't want to bond with a liar", he sticks his tongue out and retreats to his comic, angrily snacking on a pack of pocky.

Too lazy to argue any further, the boys fall back into the world created in the small room at the back of the store. By the time its five, the boys have exhausted everything they find fun in the back and become more impatient for the end of Mark's shift.

Mark walks in around five-thirty, heaving a heavy sigh before crashing onto the nearest sofa. It's not a moment too early before the others begin asking for his employee discount.

Mark's distress is written over his face clearly, but he hands them the bar-code and tells Hendery to check it out for them, shooing them away with a hand. They eagerly follow Hendery to the front where the store has quieted down for the first break in the day, checking out the items for each of them.

Upon seeing Mark again, Yukhei rushes to the back door for quick exit—only to be once again trapped by his inability to open a door, this time due to Chenle having locked the door behind him when he came back in.

He sighs, turning around painfully slow to face Mark, who gives him a confused look, "You.. how did you get here?" He jets up, moving back to the door he came from.  
Yukhei awkwardly waves his hands to explain, "Wait, no! I'm not like stalking you or something, I swear I was just trying to get out of your way quietly, but the door was locked, and I didn't notice. Look! I'm leaving now, I just unlocked the door. I'm out of your hair, see?" He demonstrates his leave to Mark; head face down in embarrassment.

Mark scoffs at the scene in front of him, "I don't care so much about you leaving as much as you telling me how you got here in the first place."

Yukhei looks up and clears his throat, "I came here with the guys that were just here, your friends. I met them with my friends, you know the ones that probably looked unfamiliar", he pauses to get Mark's approval of having seen his friends. "Yeah! So, we all met a while ago at lunch and decided to come here after a sleepover at your friend's house, the little tall one? Jisu—"

"All I'm getting from this is that you know my friends too well for having known them for such little time", Mark chides.

The taller shakes his head, "No it's not like that, we just all uh.. like the same things? I just don't want to buy anything, so I was going to head out."

Mark for whatever reason, debates the truth of his story and after deciding to believe him, walks over to the door and motions the other outside.

Yukhei rubs the back of his neck, laughing dryly, "Sorry again, Mark."

He contemplates going back to the store so he and his friends can go home together but decides against it in case he bumps into the scary brown-haired boy again.

The nearest station was a long walk away, and even then he had an hour transit to his apartment in Seoul. If he estimated right, he would be home no earlier than 9 pm. And Yukhei had a lot to think about on the ride home. For one, he'd seen the prettiest boy possibly ever just as many times as he's embarrassed himself in front of him. Said boy is also obviously annoyed by his presence, so there goes any easy way to talk to him.  
His phone buzzes with notifications from a group chat formed by their social butterfly Donghyuck, with the addition of their new friends Hendery, Jisung, Chenle and Jeno.

 **[Jisung.]**  
I hope you guys had fun today!!

 **[Xiaojun.]**  
We did sungie:> thanks for letting us stay at yours last night.

 **[Jaemin.]**  
Yukhei where’d you go??

 **[Yukhei.]**  
I just had to get home bc my mom is coming over ! sorry lol

 **[Donghyuck.]**  
Mhm, sure :| see you tomorrow, losers!

Donghyuck is pretty good at picking up hidden messages— _especially_ good when it comes to Yukhei—so he’s sure the other has already pieced together that he’s lying. No later than that does he receive a message from the latter.

 **[Donghyuck.]**  
You lying ass I saw you leave the store from the back. You didn’t even say bye >:(

 **[Yukhei.]**  
We literally see each other every day?? I just had to get home, I swear!

 **[Donghyuck.]**  
I know you’re lying.. sleep well so I can get it out of you tomorrow ;)

_read, 22:03_

Yukhei scoffs at his phone before slipping it into his back pocket. There was no way Donghyuck wouldn’t get today’s events out of him, and if he couldn’t, he would make Jaemin do it. And Jaemin would, because he and Yukhei go back before birth and he can’t lie to him.

.

Donghyuck actually doesn't bother him for the next few weeks about the happenings of that night— besides a warning of a “dare in the making”— he only observes Yukhei's glances towards Mark and his very awkward, unreciprocated greetings. Yukhei told Jaemin about the run-in the morning after, and he’s sure Donghyuck knows, since he looks at him with a mischievous smile every time they hang out.

Yukhei wasn't waiting for Donghyuck to help him, but his friend's rather reserved personality while watching him eats at the boy.

He was sure whatever Donghyuck's dare would be, it would first be inescapable, and then humiliating in at least a hundred different ways.

Jaemin snaps his finger and calls, "Earth to Yukhei?? Hello? I haven't seen you think this hard.. ever".

Yukhei turns his attention to Jaemin and sticks out his tongue, "I think hard all the time! I have better grades than you Jaem, don't try to pull yourself into a competition you're already losing."

Jaemin reaches over the table to flick Yukhei's head, "Oh come on! I'm just a rank under you, don't get all cocky."

He ignores Jaemin's rebuttal, "Hey, do you know anything about what Hyuck's thinking of daring me to do? I don't know how prepared I should be to embarrass myself so if you have anything, a heads up would be nice."

"Sorry, I wish I could tell you, but I've been sworn to secrecy", Jaemin mimes zipping his mouth shut.

"Come on, you know that's not fair! I helped you out so much when you were head over heels for Renjun!”, he protests.

Jaemin sighs, "Fine, but it isn't even as bad as you think. He told me he's just going to make you talk to him every day to figure out if he likes you back or not."

"…That's his plan, seriously?"

Jaemin shrugs, "It's too nice for the rest of us too, I know. Xiaojun said we should make you leave him notes in his locker," he makes a face in disgust, "but that's too elementary and you would easily be able to do that. I mean you wouldn't even have to say anything to his face. But talking to him? I'd like to see you not use a single cheesy pick up line on him and have him not be annoyed by your lack of interest in anything fun."

"I'd like to tell you I'm in fact a very fun person with lots of interests and that you guys suck for not picking Xiaojun's idea."

Jaemin nods, only half listening. Yukhei supposes he should be thankful it isn't worse, feeling bad when he remembered Jaemin was dared to create a cheer routine for Renjun and perform it in front of his entire P.E. class. Even though Renjun happily accepted his cheer-proposal, Jaemin was endlessly humiliated by the others for its' hilarity an entire months later by Yangyang and Donghyuck.

Yukhei being the sweet friend he is, had told Renjun about Jaemin's plan long before it happened. So in reality, Renjun letting his now boyfriend carry it out was his own fault.

.

The next week goes by with no word from Donghyuck on his so-called plan, and Yukhei finds himself doubting the truthfulness of Jaemin’s intel. The silence is eating at him and though they share most of their classes, he makes no mention of it in hopes that the other forgot about it.

Donghyuck wouldn’t forget though, and he’s faced with the reminder once they walk out of their class and the younger pokes him with a pencil. Yukhei didn’t regret his Illustration major as often as he did except for when the younger was around.

“Hey Slenderman, I know Jaemin already told you what I was going to make you do,” Donghyuck mutters “that brat, why do you guys always have to have each other’s backs? We get it, your best friends!”

Yukhei corrects him and laughs, “He’s like my brother. Don’t get offended, it’s not my fault we only have each other to defend from your schemes. I was starting to hope you forgot about it.”

“I’m not all schemes you know.. and I’d never forget to humiliate you,” Hyuck states pointedly.

“I know Hyuck, you’re the best friend-bully I could ask for,” he blows a kiss in his direction and pinches his cheek.

Donghyuck waves his hands at the other to get him to stop with the sweet but random love-fest and attempts to escape from his grasp, “Ok, ok! I love you too you love-hungry monster, come to Dejun’s café at 4, we have to solidify the terms of our agreement”

Yukhei pouts, “Is it that serious.. Can’t I get a leniency pass?”

“Nope,” he pops the ‘p’ and waves as he walks out the doors.

.

Yukhei studied as much as he could without thinking about the terms the younger might come up with and considered ditching what is so obviously going to be a ruthless roasting session. But his plan was quickly dissipated as he thought of it when Yangyang knocks on the table to get his attention. He wordlessly motioned to where Donghyuck was seated. With a heaving sigh, Yukhei trails behind the younger and upon reaching the table, sees Renjun and Jaemin across from Donghyuck’s seat.

“You made it!”, Donghyuck grins.

“Oh come on, we already talked about this—why are Renjun and Jaemin here? I agreed to hear you out, not fifth-wheel”, Yukhei rolls his eyes, grabbing a chair to pull in front of the table.

“Maybe… and hear me out on this one,” Renjun starts, “You wouldn’t have to fifth wheel if you got yourself a boyfriend.”

Yukhei glares at him, “I’m going to leave.”

“Goodluck getting him like that,” Renjun teases.

“We’re getting off topic here,” Donghyuck whines, “Look, I talked to the Mark kid this week and I’ve concluded two things. One, it is so hard to find him, it took me two weeks to finally find him during lunch!”

“Is this that important of a conclusion?”, Yangyang asks.

Donghyuck nods, “It is! Because two, you can’t like Mark. I’m daring you to not talk to him or like him at all.”

Everyone looks at Donghyuck confused at the boy’s verdict and Yangyang asks again, “Why’s that?”

“I tried talking to him about you, but he straight up told me he thinks I’m annoying. He didn’t even hear me out,” he huffs.

“Oh my god he’s perfect,” Yukhei clasps his hands together as the others stifle their laughter.

“Are you even listening? You can’t date him,” Donghyuck waves his hands at him, “You know what was weird though? He said he doesn’t know a Lucas.. You still go by 

Lucas at school right, or is it back to Yukhei?

“No, I just might have.. not told him my name yet,” Yukhei confesses, voice just above a whisper.

“So.. we came here for what?”, Jaemin argues.

“I just didn’t want him to be able to put a face and name to me when he starts to hate me!”

“Oh come on Yukhei, you’re hot and funny, he can’t hate you already,” Renjun offers.

“I know I am. I’m just saying I don’t want it to happen.”

“Never mind— What are you going to do now? You pull on a confident act in front of us but can’t even bring yourself to say a word to this kid?”, Renjun crosses his arms.

“Hey, it’s not an act! I don’t want to give a bad first impression”

“You’re saying this as if you didn’t already have a bad one with him. Do you even remember that we became friends because I told you your fly was down and you didn’t want me to tell anyone else, or did you forget that too?”

Embarrassed, Yukhei shouts, “Shut up! Of course I remember, you didn’t have to remind everyone else too.”

“I’m done playing with you, I swear that was the last one. We’ll be heading out now, see you later lover-boy,” Renjun winks as he and Jaemin part ways from the rest.  
Donghyuck orders the others a smoothie and reiterates his dare when they’ve all gotten the chance to wind down, “Since you won’t listen to me telling you that you can’t date him, I’m telling you this is your perfect way in. You’re on a much better standing than you think you are, Hei.”

“Thanks,” Yukhei nods, sipping on his smoothie.

“Mhm, just don’t disappoint us!”, Donghyuck warns him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Donghyuck gets up and begins to head out, “You know what I mean, don’t lose daylight thinking about it and just do it!”

.

Yukhei takes Donghyuck’s advice and goes to the comic store in his free time. Some days he sees Mark, others, he has no such luck.

He’s not sure what to do even when he sees Mark, so the boy keeps his distance and hangs at the café attached to the store. Yukhei and Hendery became closer, since he was the only person who knew the way and worked there anyway.

“You’re 20 too? Born in ’99?”, Hendery asks as they wait for the bus to take them home.

“We’re in the same year, Hendery, yes I’m 20 born in ‘99”, Yukhei takes a seat at the bus stop.

“You know Mark’s born in ’99 too?” Hendery informs, taking a seat next to the other.

“Oh? I didn’t—”

“You’ve been coming here for near a month, but you still haven’t interacted with him in the slightest. Do you need another push? Should I call Jaemin?” He teases, poking at the other.

Yukhei shakes his head, “No, I’m just figuring it out, I swear. Please don’t tell them. They’ll think of a worse dare and supervise me to make sure I do what they ask me to.”

Hendery laughs, “Okay, fine. Don’t tell Mark I told you this, but he absolutely loves The Amazing Spider-Man, you could read it and start a conversation from there.”

“Doesn’t that have like 500 editions?”

“You could just as easily watch the movies,” he offered. 

Yukhei nods and thanks the other as their bus arrives.

Soon enough, Yukhei finds himself accustomed to coming in with Hendery whenever he had work, even taking his advice to read some of the comics. Yukhei places the comic on his lap, “Do I have to read all of these?”

Hendery re-shelves the out of place comics, “I already told you that you didn’t need to, really. One would have been fine. Now go find him and talk to him about it or something.”

He doesn’t find Mark right away, and when he does, he has to rehearse his conversation before confronting him. When he turns around, Mark is already back at the register.

_Great._

He picks up a random figurine off the display and makes his way to Mark’s register.

“Hi, did you find everything ok today?” Mark greets Yukhei.

“Y- yeah? It was good,” Yukhei pauses, taking a moment to muster up courage before continuing, “Do you remember me? We met.. I was the one who forgot to pay for the figurine last time.”

“There’s a lot of guys like that, sorry, you’ll have to be more specific,” Mark rings his item and places it into a bag.

“Oh? Yeah that makes sense, of course people would try to steal from you guys—Not to say that I was stealing from you guys that one time—You really don’t remember me?”, Yukhei asks desperately.

“I’m messing with you, of course I remember my stalker,” Mark counts the total and laughs, “That’ll be 25,000 won.”

“I’m not a stalker, it was just a coincidence!”, Yukhei explains, “Wait, 25,000 won? Isn’t this just a toy? Are you sure that’s the price?”

“Yes, I’m sure Mr.Stalker-not-stalker. Did you even look at what you got? A limited-edition Venom figurine can go up to 54,000 won.”

Before he can stop himself, Yukhei blurts, “Who’s Venom?”

Mark stares at him in scrutiny, “You really just picked up a random figurine?”

“Ye—No? I was asking who Venom is to you”, he tries to play off his lack of knowledge, laughing awkwardly.

Mark doesn’t seem to buy it but answers anyway, “Uh.. ok. Well not much, he is an anti-hero though? He’s Spiderman’s enemy too.. to me he might be a villain honestly, I don’t like him all that much.”

Yukhei pays Mark, “Oh okay, cool.”

Mark hands him the figurine, “I guess… Have a nice day, we hope to see you at Neo Comics again soon.”

He swears Mark gave him a small wave and smile, but he turned around too fast to be sure—it was probably customer service anyway. He heads to where he last saw Hendery to celebrate his first non-failed interaction.

“Only took you near two months!”, He cheers, patting his back. “You should head back home yourself, I’m here till closing tonight. And don’t forget there’s a party at Jisung’s on Halloween!”

“Do I have to come?”

Hendery ignores the elder’s protest, “See you then Xuxi!”

.

Their college was bustling with spooky spirt the week of Halloween. Although it was nothing like the spirit of their high school during the same time last year, Yukhei was still excited to see other’s efforts. He didn’t dress up as anything, since that would mean he would need to find another outfit for Jisung’s part later in the day.

He shouldn’t have expected the same for the others though. When they met during a lunch break, Renjun and Jaemin were wearing a Mickey and Minnie Mouse costume.

Jaemin sighs, “You didn’t read the group-chat, did you?”

Yukhei checks his phone, and sure enough there were 50+ unread messages from the others. A quick skim lets him know about their debate over various costume ideas for school and the party. Jisung was going all out for the party apparently, and anyone who dressed up at both school and the party would have a higher chance in winning his raffle. Yukhei remembers Chenle asking him about his costume’s multiple times last week, but he didn’t think it was all that serious.

“What’s the prize that’s got all of you dressed up?”, Yukhei asks.

“We get a weekend in his beach house on Jeju-do,” Renjun tries to hide his excitement.

“Aren’t we friends? Can’t we go together without needing to enter a contest?” Yukhei asks.

Jaemin laughs, “Just because we’re friends doesn’t mean we get everything of Jisung’s at no cost. And besides, dressing up is fun!”

Yukhei shrugs, “Just never saw him as a party kid, I guess.”

“He’s a 17-year-old college freshman, I’m sure he can party around more than us, at least for now,” Jaemin defends the younger.

“Yeah, let the kid have his fun. Who are you going as tonight?” Renjun shifts back to Yukhei.

“I don’t know, I really don’t get—” He’s cut off by Jaemin smacking his hand on the table, “Go as Iron Man! You’ll get extra points since Jisung loves him.”

“How do you know that? And how am I supposed to get that costume within the next 8 hours?”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll get you one,” Jaemin reassures the other.

Yukhei nods hesitantly and thanks Jaemin, who lifts his finger a bit and finishes with a mischievous smile, “But if you win, the ticket is mine and Renjun’s.”

He should’ve known Jaemin would have another motive for helping him out, “You’re that sure he would like my costume?”

Jaemin nods, “He’s still a kid, of course he would like his favorite superhero more than couple costumes.”

.

True to his word, Jaemin brings Yukhei an Iron Man costume that fits perfectly. The group of friends change at Donghyuck’s before heading for the party.

“Is the mask necessary? I can’t see in this thing,” Yukhei whines.

“Of course it is. Don’t flatter yourself, you aren’t the Stark you think you might be under that costume,” Donghyuck laughs from outside his closet.

He struggles with how his costume feels as he looks in the mirror, “Who are you going as?”

“Who do you think?”, Donghyuck spins in his costume. Michael Jackson.

“No couples costume for you and Yangyang then?”

“I can’t go as two characters?,” Donghyuck asks.

“Seems like an awful lot,” Yukhei shrugs.

“You’ll get it once you man up enough to tell Mark you like him.“

Yukhei winces at the reminder of Donghyuck’s dare. His interactions with Mark were still far and few between, and he’s not so sure he’s even told Mark his name yet. 

At least he wasn’t going to be here tonight—he hopes.

Renjun calls from down the hall that they’re getting late, and the others immediately rush out the door, holding clips and other small adjustments to their costumes as they piled into Xiaojun’s car.

“Guys, Xiaojun has a mom-van, come look!”, Yangyang laughs, opening the back door.

“You know I don’t. My mom let me borrow it— and that means no goofing around,” he glances back to warn the others.

With their Halloween playlist set, the friends made their way to Jisung’s house. The party is much like Yukhei expected it to be, minus the alcohol. It’s the second time he’s come to Jisung’s, and the house looks drastically different from what he remembers.

By the time they arrived, people were already pouring out of the house onto the lawn.

“There is no way Jisung has these many friends, he hasn’t even completed a semester here,” Renjun marvels at the sight in front of him.

“Perks of having a frat brother like Jaehyun,” Jaemin answers the others’ lingering question.

It became more obvious the party wasn’t hosted by Jisung when Yukhei sees the beer kegs on the kitchen table. Jaehyun spots Jaemin and waves him over with a welcoming smile.

He yells through the piercing music, “You guys made it! Sungie and Chenle are already downstairs with the others, I’m glad you guys could come!”. His hands point towards the door leading to the basement and the boys slowly make their way down.

“I can’t believe we just met Jaehyun Jung. He’s really Jisung’s brother?”, Yangyang asks as they head down.

“Yep,” Jaemin enthuses.

There is a shift in scenery as soon as they make way downstairs, a calmer crowd mingles in the center, with others scattered about. Jisung’s smile shines brighter upon seeing the entry of others.

“Sorry about upstairs. I know it’s a little loud.. welcome to my leg of the party!”, He giggles, introducing the newcomers to those already there. Each of them is handed raffle tickets on which they are instructed to write their names and place into a spinning container.

“If the winner is picked by chance, why did I come in this thing?”, Yukhei knocks on his costumes hard shell.

Renjun rolls his eyes, “No good party has only one prize. One is a raffle, the other is a competition.”

It only dawns on Yukhei as Renjun walks to place his name into the container that no matter what, he wouldn’t be able to win tonight.

“That’s not fair, you didn’t say that yesterday!” He shouts at the youngers back, trying to catch up with him in the new crowds of people welcoming them.

He doesn’t know anyone at the party but his friends, who are scattered all around within moments of their arrival. In an attempt to gain confidence and mingle with others, he drinks and eats a little bit of everything on the table. On his third drink _(of root beer!)_ he feels less confident and more like throwing up than when he came in and stays by the stands. People in costumes stop by to talk to him while they get food, but quickly retreat to their group of friends. He wasn’t offended, if he knew where his friends went, he would’ve hurried off to them too. He waits, hoping his friends come around for snacks so he can tag along with them.  
No sooner does he see a familiar face approaching the table; Hendery grabs a plate and makes his round through the table and stops to look at the boy in the Iron Man costume, unaware it’s Yukhei underneath.

“You’re blocking the tortilla chips, can you move over?”, He asks, snapping Yukhei away from his thoughts. Yukhei immediately jumps in excitement, “Thank god you’re here!” He pulls off his mask and puts it between his arms.

Hendery squints through the light before realizing the masked character was Yukhei, “How long have you been here?”

“Not longer than an hour.. or two. I’m not sure, I couldn’t really see the time,” he waves his mask for the other to see.

“You didn’t have to keep that on for so long,” Hendery chuckles, “I’m sure people could tell you’re Iron Man by your suit alone.”

“I like staying in character… and avoiding people I don’t know,” Yukhei responds.

Hendery plates the chips and guac and grabs Yukhei’s hand with his free one, leading him to a room in the back. Here, he recognizes almost everyone immediately. People of the same major, in similar classes and clubs have formed small circles, playing a variety of games. 

“Jisung’s secluded party has an extra secluded party?” Yukhei asks.

Hendery nods, “Welcome to it, don’t miss out on the after party.”

An _after party_ too? It’s already almost 1 am and less than half the attendees have yet to leave the house from either parties. Yukhei makes his rounds around the groups of people to see if any game piques his interest, stopping to watch an intense game of monopoly. It must have been going on for a while since New York and Fenway park were owned with four hotels on each. He watches as Jeno rolls the dice, watching the fear on his face grow as he lands on Fenway park. Across from him, a girl Yukhei recognizes as Yeeun from his communication class laughs, “I gave you the easy way out when we started, sorry Jen”. Jeno glares at her and throws his card at the banker, “We both know you’d find a way to fuck me over then too.” She winks playfully and waves him a goodbye, “What would be the fun if I didn’t?”

Jeno sees Yukhei waving at him shyly and gets up to move away from the growing crowd on the floor.

“You want to make fun of my loss too?”, Jeno aggresively pours punch into his cup.

“I didn’t watch enough to know if you were really that broke or just have bad luck,” Yukhei responds surprised.

“Bad luck for sure, I’d never let Yeeun win if I went with my gut feeling. Anyway, you wanna check out the rest of the party?”.

Even before Yukhei can agree to the offer, he feels Jeno leading him up the stairs to the backyard. The place is a lot bigger than Yukhei had first assumed, even the online searches didn’t do it justice. The 12,000 square-foot yard definitely wasn’t an exaggeration. Large stringed lights surrounded the fenced home(*mansion), with a pool bigger that had to be bigger than that of Yukhei’s neighborhood gym. A large bonfire was lit around the seating area, attracting all kinds of drunk and poorly skilled singing students to it. There are games lined up all around the yard, ranging from beer pong to card games.

“Ooh, look!”, Jeno nudges Yukhei’s shoulder to get his attention, pointing at the pool, “We can still dunk a nerd! Let’s go check how much it is.”

A guy named Johnny asks for three dollars and a guess on which the nerd is, “If you dunk the right math major, the money is yours. If not, you’ve got to pay an extra 3… for frat funds.”

Jeno warns Yukhei, “One: this is my money, so dunk anyone but Mark and we’ll be good. Two: Mark is the one in the middle. Don’t ask him questions, he’s a music major.”

“I know which one Mark is, Jeno”, Yukhei laughs.

“This is the last dunk of the night! You get to ask each student two questions, wanna give it a go?”, Johnny asks, speaking into the mic. Yukhei shakes his head and instead focuses on the targets. He’s sure he’s going to get it right and dunk the nerd—until he doesn’t. It’s a clear-cut miss, and anyone watching knew that his target was going to be far from bullseye. The ball hits the middle target quick and _hard_ , and in a moment Mark’s chair gives in and he’s dunked into the pool.

Jeno smacks his arm, “Yukhei. I said not to dunk Mark!”

His eyes widened at the realization of his horrible miss, “I didn’t think the ball would swerve like that!”

Jeno mumbles something of another disapproval and tells Yukhei to help him pull Mark out of the pool. Mark is already making his way out the pool, and a simple extension of Yukhei’s arms helps Mark come up to the ladder. Mark is also seemingly unentertained by the dunking, but he doesn’t say anything to Yukhei as he hands him a towel from one of the lounge chairs aside from a small thanks.

“Do I really have that much of a ‘math major’ look?”, He asks Jeno as he curls up on the chair, finally completely dry.

“You know you do, but it’s not your fault”, Jeno laughs at a glaring Mark.

“Hey, I’m sorry again. I feel like we keep getting off on the wrong foot and I swear I didn’t hit your target on purpose”, Yukhei apologizes. Mark only nods understandingly, and then they’re called by Xiaojun and Hendery for the raffle and competition winners.

As the rest of the attendees’ pile into the room, Mark turns to Yukhei, “So you knew I wasn’t a math major and still hit me?”

“I.. yeah? But I didn’t mean to hit you! It just sort of slipped?”, Yukhei tries to defend himself to Mark.

Jisung taps the mic lightly once he’s on the stage, and a loud feedback echoes through the room. He smiles innocently and begins, “Thank you all for coming to my party tonight, I hope you enjoyed everything I worked to set up with my brother! Now, for the part of the night most of you have been waiting for: the raffle and contest winners!”. A loud cheer erupts through the room and Yukhei can feel Renjun’s eyes on the back of his head. He smiles and crosses his fingers behind his back for Renjun to see, hoping that he wins one of the two prizes tonight too. Jisung has a go to spin the container with names in them and pulls one out once it comes to a stop.

“Na Jaemin! Congratulations on winning the first prize: a personalized gift basket with a budget of five grand!”, Jisung beams.

“He’s smart and rich?”, Xiaojun’s eyes follow Jaemin up the stage as he’s handed his prize basket of money.

“Don’t complain, Jaemin’s too nice to use all that money for himself anyway,” Renjun pats his back.

“Yeah, but a prize basket like that? Wait, does this mean if I win the costume competition then I get to keep it?”, Yukhei tugs at Renjun’s shirt.

He shakes his head, “I didn’t make the deal with you so I can’t change the terms. Even if I did, the answer would be no.”  
Jisung is clearing his throat again on stage, congratulating Jaemin a final time before he begins to announce the winner of the costume contest. The spinning container is taken off the stage and in Jisung’s hands are two plane tickets to the beach house.

“This next competition is what I know you all have come dressed up for, though I’m sad to announce the 5 pairs of couple costumes and at least 10 variations of Spider-man didn’t make the cut. Tonight’s winner for the costume contest is—can I get a drumroll?”, he pauses for the sound effect to play through the speaker system, “. . .Wong Yukhei!”

Yukhei freezes and Jaemin has to punch his arm lightly, “Didn’t think you would win?”

Jisung waves the tickets at Yukhei to come up to the stage and collect his prize. He thanks the younger boy, waving them in the air himself when he gets on stage and his friends cheers can be heard from the back of the room. He’s congratulated by some and given nasty stares by others as he heads to Jaemin, whose hands are held open with a childish smirk.

Yukhei hands him the tickets and quickly scans the room, “Where’s Mark?”

Jaemin shrugs, “He left a while back, around before I was announced.” He swings his basket and tickets in front of his friends faces as they head up to the third floor. Upon entry, the youngest kids claimed the biggest rooms to themselves, leaving the oldest four in a single bedroom.

Hendery has none of it, immediately trying to bribe the others for their rooms in exchange for ridiculous tasks. “If you’re going to put us in one room at least put us in a room that’ll fit four people!”

“You’ll fit just fine,” Jeno waves him off.

Hendery and Xiaojun follow after him. “You know that’s not true, that’s why we never have a sleepover in this room!”, Hendery argues.

Yukhei doesn’t go after them to help sway the others, fearful that Donghyuck might actually add something that would make Yukhei’s impossible dare worse, or that the others would rope him into an all-night game that would lead to the same. Hendery tries to convince him to join them, but he doesn’t believe the room is so bad for four people until he’s walked in himself. All that fits in the room is a full bed, desk and chair, along with small plants and other decorative pieces. The room is carpeted beige with white walls that don’t help create a bigger space— even with the white furniture— and there’s only one window in front of the desk-space that is sealed shut. He sighs and gets ready for bed without complaining, claiming his spot on the left side of the bed when he’s done.

Hendery peeks into the room a while later with a big smile, “I got us a different room! You and Mark can cram here together now, see you tomorrow morning!”

Mark walks into the room behind Hendery to see his roommates for the night. “This is my room,” he says flatly.

“Yeah, courtesy of your brothers. Don’t worry, I was able to get me and Xiaojun another room so it’s just you two here today. There was no way I would way I would sleep with someone who uses me as a stress reliever toy anyway”, Hendery explains.

“I do not!”, Mark's ears turn a light pink from embarrassment.

“Of course you don’t”, Hendery jests.

Mark grits his teeth and whisper yells at Hendery momentarily before turning to the bathroom door, “I’m taking a shower.”

Yukhei and Hendery joke about the situation before Mark comes back out, “You’re welcome for the hundredth time by the way.”

“I know you didn’t switch rooms for me, we really could’ve fit!”

He turns to leave, nodding, “Yeah, but I don’t want to be near that awkward tension, night.”

Yukhei is still up on his phone when the clock hits three. There was no point in trying to sleep with all the games and competitive rallies going on outside the room. He tells Mark the same when he finally comes out the shower, who nods understandingly before coming up to the left side of the bed and crossing his arms childishly.

“You do know this is my bed, right? Why are you here?”, the words come out harsh as Mark plops himself on the other side of the bed.

“I don’t see your name on it,” Yukhei laughs.

Mark rolls his eyes and pokes him lightly, “Seriously? I always sleep here when I crash.”

Yukhei immediately jumps off the side of the bed laughing awkwardly, “Yeah, no I mean it is your roo—”

“Wait no, sorry. I wasn’t being serious I was just joking! It was a bad joke, you can stay. The bed is big enough for two people anyway”, Mark chuckles, patting the left side of the bed to let Yukhei know it’s okay for him to lay down again.

Yukhei gets comfortable—well, as comfortable as he could to his rapidly growing crush— and turns off the lamp on the bedside table, passing out the second his head hit the pillow.

He isn’t sure what time he’s woken from his sleep, and he realizes he can’t grab his phone to check either. He tries to move but finds himself in a warm and tight grip, instantly freezing. Yukhei turns his body to the other side to face Mark, finding his arms hugging Yukhei’s waist tightly. He taps Mark’s shoulder repeatedly in effort to wake him up, but has no luck in waking the sleeping boy. Mark only lifts his hand to swat Yukhei’s away and then places his arm right back around his waist.  
Yukhei sighs, giving up and turning to face away from Mark. He’s not sure how Mark would react if he woke him up to the situation, so he doesn’t try waking him up again. Not that he would need to wake him though, because when Yukhei wakes up next, the right side of the bed is already cold, neatly made with no sign of Mark in the room.

Yukhei quickly dresses to head home before his first class for the day. On his way down, he stops by the kitchen for a quick snack, finding Mark rummaging through the kitchen fridge with the same idea. He clears his throat and smiles, and Mark almost drops the granola bar in his hand when he sees Yukhei. He avoids making eye contact with Yukhei, giving only a half-smile before slamming the fridge door and slipping past the elder to the front door.

“You’re not going to eat?”, Yukhei blocks his path.

Mark nervously explains, “No, I just remembered I have a shift in an hour.. I don’t have enough time to eat here so I’ll just eat on the way.”

Yukhei tilts his head, confused, “We’re already in Incheon though, isn’t NeoComics like two blocks away?”

“I wanna get some exercise in?”, Mark seems like he’s asking him rather than telling him. Yukhei nods understandingly and bids the other farewell. Donghyuck and Jeno come down together soon after and hear Yukhei’s short retelling of the incident.

“Mark and exercise? I don’t believe it. He’s avoiding you, dude”, Jeno shakes his head.

“You’re being overdramatic, I’m sure he exercises. Anyway, I’ve got to head out too, I have a 9 a.m.”, Yukhei sighs.

“Oh shit, I have a 9 a.m. too then!”, Donghyuck remembers, huffing annoyedly. “Can you tell Professor Moon I’m sick or something?”

Yukhei rolls his eyes, “How do you manage to be his favorite when you never show up to class?”

Donghyuck winks, “You wish you were half as charming as me.”

.

Yukhei stops by a fast food restaurant near the station to grab a small breakfast and catch his train. The morning rush hasn’t died down a bit from the weekend, and Yukhei groans as he joins a line. His frustration turns to excitement when he realizes Mark is the one in front of him. He taps his shoulder, “You left a while ago and you’re still in line?”

Mark turns around, surprised to see Yukhei behind him. “I couldn’t decide what I wanted,” he mumbles. 

Yukhei stifles his laughter, unsure of where their friendship (are we even friends?) stood after the previous night. He beams at him again, “I’ll pay for you, let’s eat and go together!”

Mark frowns, “No thanks.”

The girl at the register calls for the next order and Mark moves up in the line as Yukhei waits behind him.

“Your total is 7200 won,” the lady totals his order as Mark searches through his pocket. He rakes his fingers through his hair and turns to Yukhei, who immediately smiles and steps forward with his card in hand. “And I’ll take another of what he’s having,” he says, handing her the card. 

The lady cooes at his gesture and puts in the second order, “That’s so sweet of you! We’ll put it on the house today, so don’t worry about it.” She hands him the card and receipt back as Mark leads them to a table near the register.

Mark gripes as they wait for their number to appear on the screen, “She only gave it you free because of how you look.”

“Are you jealous? I did pay for your meal, y’know. I’ll just cancel your order—"

Mark’s eyes widen at the threat, “No! I’m sorry, thanks for not-paying for me.”

Yukhei grins, “No problem”, the screen reads their number and he heads to the front to grab their trays.

They eat in silence, aside from Yukhei’s occasional jokes that fly completely over Mark’s head, no matter how many times he would explain them to the other.

When they’re both done clearing the table, Mark is tapping his fingers impatiently on the table, “Hey, do you think we could start over?I know I’ve been mean to you, but I feel bad because I don’t mean to be mean.. it just comes out like that when I—”

Yukhei cuts into the other’s rambling, “Yeah! I’d like that a lot, a fresh start.”

“Okay, good. Hi, I’m Mark Lee”, Mark smiles softly.

Yukhei gives him a toothy grin, “Yeah, I kno—I’m.. uh Lucas.. Wong Yukhei? You can call me whichever you’d like, I guess. 

Mark’s lips curve into a smile as he thinks for a moment before nodding, “Hm.. Okay. Nice to meet you, Yukhei.”

Yukhei doesn’t know if it’s because of the soda he’s having so early, or if it’s the way his name rolls off Mark’s tongue— but if there’s one thing for certain, Yukhei has never felt sweeter.

.

When they finally leave, Yukhei realizes he’s already missed half of class. He sends a quick email to Professor Moon and texts Donghyuck to do the same. He’s met with angry emoticons and a ‘fine’, and quickly rushes for Xiaojun’s café.

“Hey Yukhei! Why are you running?”, Xiaojun greets him, drying the last of the sundae glasses.

“I need your help Jun,” he sighs, ruffling his hair as he takes a seat at the bar stool.

“Donghyuck said I’m not allowed to help you,” he reminds the other.

“Oh come on, I’ll pay you!”

“Oh my god _no_ , I’ll listen. Don’t pay me, we’re friends,” he places the cup of coffee he was making down and motions for Yukhei to sit at a booth, “Make it quick, you better not take my entire break for the day.”

Yukhei grins, “I’ll finish faster than you can say Avengers Endgame!”

“Avengers Endgame... Guess I'll see you later then”, Xiaojun cracks up at his own joke.

Yukhei rolls his eyes and narrates his encounter to the other, ”… So now I don’t know what to do.”

Xiaojun scoffs, “You’re not being serious, are you?”

“Huh? Did I not sound serious..?”

Xiaojun shakes his head, “This is the perfect time to make a move that sticks—You know I don’t normally agree with Hyuck’s dares, but this can’t even be considered a dare! He’s obviously more lenient with you, you’re lucky he loves you.”

“You’re saying that as if it’s easy to make a mov— Wait, don’t act like you weren’t the one who practically gave Donghyuck the cheer-proposal dare. Jaem and Renjun might not know you did it, but we were right here when you suggested it!”

Xiaojun groans, “We all took part in helping them get together. We didn’t hurt them— and besides, that’s completely irrelevant.”

A light bulb flashes in Yukhei’s mind and he smacks his hands on the table determined, “I have an idea, you can come with me. Hyuck never said you couldn’t do that!”

“I am not going with my 20— _almost 21_ — year-old friend to confess to his crush. You’ve taken up a good portion of my break too; I’ll talk to you later Xuxi. Good luck!”, he scoots out of the booth.

“I haven’t even been here all of 20 minutes, and I know you have an hour of break.”, Yukhei deadpans.

“Hyuck’s word is final, I’m not helping you—he would find out if I did anyway. Listen, I’m sure he’s a good guy and will like you back if you show him that you're interested.” Yukhei sinks further into the booth while Xiaojun slips into the kitchen and returns with a drink in hand.

He walks up to Yukhei and hands him the drink with a hopeful smile, “Drink up and go get your nerd”. Yukhei thanks him, and with his drinks in hand, heads to Incheon.

.

He makes it to the store, java chip still half full in hand, and with a deep breath and an internal pep talk, pushes the door open. He sees Mark at the register busy with a customer and his confidence plummets immediately, so he opts to browsing through aisles with the stores ‘comic of the week’. This week’s addition happens to be the 100th Anniversary Special: Fantastic Four . He skims through the pages when he feels a presence next to him. Its’ confirmed when the person coughs multiple times and then taps him, “Uh—yeah?”. He’s faced by Mark who simply stares at the others’ drink and says, ”Drinks are strictly prohibited near the merchandise, I’m sorry but I’m going to have to ask you to finish it in the café”.

Yukhei blinks blankly at him and looks at the frappe in his hand. He waves it at Mark, “You want some?”

He shakes his head, swatting the drink away from his face, “Uh. No thanks, I’m more of a mocha frappe kind of guy.”

“Is there really a difference? They’re both frappes,” Yukhei pushes the drink back at Mark.

“Sure, but a mocha frappe tastes better than your sugar filled drink—If you don’t drink that in the café I’m going to have to ask you to pay for any damages.”

“Give me a comic better than this and I’ll think about it,” Yukhei shows him the edition he was skimming through, “This one doesn’t make sense.”

Mark groans and walks over to the next aisle, returning with Age of Innocence: The Rebirth of Iron Man, “Come back only when you’ve read it—and make sure to pay for it before leaving.”

Yukhei rolls his eyes, “Do you have anything else?”

“No”

“What about any of the Spider-Man comics?”

“Nope”, Mark folds his arms.

Yukhei shrugs, “Well I guess that’s good. He sucks anyway.”

“You can’t be serious right now”, Mark scoffs, throwing the comic to Yukhei as he heads back to the register. Yukhei follows behind and searches behind the counter for any he might have missed, “I know you guys have it somewhere here. You’re really saying you don’t have any?”

“New ones got shipped a while back, but we don’t have anything right now,” Mark apologizes, shooing him away.

Yukhei purses his lips, “Okay, fine. I’ll head out then, unless you want me to stay until your shift is done?”

Mark shakes his head, “I- No? You can go.”

“Okay, I’ll stay here.”

Mark sighs, “In the way of customers? No thanks, the back room is open and I’m not up for your agenda.”

“There’s no agenda! Can’t I drop my friend off home?

Mark is pushing Yukhei over to the break room now, “You’re not dropping me off home”

Yukhei turns around after opening the door and smiles, “Ok Mark, I believe you.”

.

Mark cleans up for the night and catches up to Yukhei as he fiddles with locking the front door. He rolls his eyes and motions Yukhei to move over and hand him the key, swiftly locking it shut.

They walk down the blocks, each one getting more dimly lit and narrower when Yukhei turns to Mark, “Could you make up for not having the comic?” Mark groans, “Please do—”

“Just one favor,” Yukhei urges.

“What is it,” Mark asks.

“Come to the basketball finals with me.”

“What? Why?”

Yukhei shrugs, “Why not? You owe me after I paid for your meal anyway, and now this can be your way of being even with me.”

Mark’s eyes squint as he laughs sneakily, “Fine. _If_ you come with me to the comic store opening in Hongdae this weekend.”

“More comic stores? Forget I asked.”

“Seriously?”

“No, I’ll come with you.”

Mark jumps up excitedly and giggles, “Ahah! I knew you would!” He picks up his pace and starts down the road faster, an invitation to race the other to the last streetlight. Yukhei is already left in the dust, so he chooses to stay trailing slowly behind, admiring the boys echoing laughter that brings life to the dim lights of the street.

When Yukhei catches up to him, Mark turns around and thanks the other, “This is me, I’ll see you later. Thanks for dropping me off.”

“There’s nothing here though,—”, Yukhei rushes closer to Mark, confused.

“Night! I’ll see you later,” Mark walks backwards, waving at Yukhei with both hands until he reaches the next turn in the street.

.

The next time Yukhei is able to meet with the others at once comes when winter break begins—after having celebrated Christmas with their families(or not, in his case), they agreed to jump into the new year together. Come the 31st, Donghyuck, Yangyang and Xiaojun were the only ones who were able to go through with their New Year’s plan since Jaemin and Renjun were spending their break on Jeju-do with the contest tickets.

They were setting up for a movie night, with a blanket fort built in the center of the living room. Donghyuck was stringing lights around the room for the ultimate late-night movie experience while Yangyang brought pillows from all ends of Xiaojun’s apartment. Yukhei strolls in late with a large sum of unhealthy snacks from the convenience store and drops them in front of the blankets on the floor.

After watching To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (because Donghyuck protested, “The second one is coming out later tonight and I need to remind you all to never settle for the first good thing!”.), they argued over how their love lives were undoubtedly better.

Yangyang crosses his arms over his chest, “Are you trying to tell me something, Hyuck?”

“I mean in _fiction_ it isn’t a good thing to settle—“, he frantically shakes his head, “In real life the first one might be the only one!” 

The others laugh as Donghyuck is left scrambling in an attempt to explain to the others what true love is.

“You can’t tell me our love lives are better when Xiaojun hasn’t even decided whether he likes Jeno or Hendery more to make a move,” Donghyuck turns to point at Yukhei, “And you. It’s been like what.. six months? And you only actually hung out with Mark for the first time a few weeks ago by coincidence? Lara Jean undeniably has a better chance at true love than you guys do.”

Xiaojun tries to come up with a defense for himself, choosing to direct his attack at Yukhei. “He’s not wrong, all you do is follow him around.”

“I’m working on it,” Yukhei rolls his eyes, “At least I’m not deciding if I have a crush on one guy or two.”

Xiaojun sticks out his tongue and plops onto the sofa defeatedly, “It’s hard, have you seen either of them?”

Yangyang and Donghyuck nod along in agreement, “Don’t shift the topic Hei, he has an actual point.”

“I.. You guys are bogus!”

They laugh at his misfortune and Yukhei digresses as they settle in for the second movie. There are occasional whispers between Donghyuck and Xiaojun about who is a better match for Lara Jean throughout the entire movie. The cozy and lively energy fills the room, but they’re passed out before the end of the movie.

.

Mark texts Yukhei with a date and location of the new comic store after the New Years, meeting earlier for their routine fast food breakfast (a tradition that both hated but couldn’t see themselves breaking).

“Tell me why we have to go again,” Yukhei asks as they reach the front doors of the comic store.

Mark scans the environment dramatically before entering, “I have to check if we have any threats.”

“These are comic stores, how much variation can they have?”, Yukhei looks over to the other this time, “You’re not even the manager, why does it matter?”

Mark places his hands over Yukhei’s mouth in annoyance, “Shh!”

They scan the store as customers come and go, and ultimately Yukhei decides he’s over Mark’s childish competition and searches through the store himself. He finds an aisle of comics dedicated to Venom’s comics. It’s a small section, but Yukhei is quickly drawn to it, grabbing Venom: Dark origin. He’s read through half of the shelf when Mark comes up to him and taps his foot expectantly. Yukhei looks up innocently, “What’s up?”

“Are you having fun?”, Mark asks.

Yukhei smiles, “Is this a test? I think I found out where you guys are lacking. This place has a whole shelf for venom comics, I’d rather come here than Incheon— it’s closer too.”

Mark seats himself beside Yukhei, mocking him, “You know, I’m actually positive that _having_ Venom’s comics is what’s going to damage our sales.”

Yukhei turns his head so they’re face to face, “Don’t ruin my life like this Mark, I’ll really stop visiting you.”

Mark bursts into a fit of silent laughter, “—Oh my god, you’re so dramatic! Why did I agree to going to the game with everyone just to bring you way out here for you to do this?” He lifts himself off the ground and offers Yukhei a hand up, “Let’s go.”

“Did you say everyone is coming to the game?”

“… Yeah, didn’t you invite everyone? It’d be weird to leave them out,” Mark shrugs.

Yukhei laughs awkwardly as realization dawns upon him, “Of course I did! You’re right, why wouldn’t I?” Mark hums in agreement, “Anyway, I doubt this store will last longer than a few months with the selection of comics and services they have.”

“Is it that serious?”

“I wanna get employee of the month! I’ll get to pick free comics every week for the month, it’s a big deal Hei.”

Yukhei nods at him, imitating Mark’s overworked expressions To a T. He receives a weak punch from Mark who drags him out the store. Yukhei follows his pull without hesitance, more than happy to be beside the younger. They get off the station, and the two head to the bus station for Mark’s, “I was wondering why we left the store so quick. You know I wanted to buy one of those Venom comics!”

Mark shrugs, “ You already read them all anyway. Not an interesting character, right?”

“Don’t be mean, I like him.”

“You can’t, he’s Spider-Man’s enemy.”

“And? Just because you like Spider-Man doesn’t mean you have to hate all of his enemies.”

“Then you can’t hate Spider-Man because he’s Venom’s enemy.”

“You first,” Yukhei folds his arms.

“What? No! Venom sucks whether or not he’s a villain”

“Anti-Hero.”

Yukhei’s argument flies over Mark again as he nods absentmindedly, “Why don’t we meet at Jisung’s before the game too then?”

He stops in his tracks, “Huh? Jisung’s is farther, wouldn’t it be smarter for us to go together instead?”

Mark nods his head softly, “It’d be nice to go with everyone.” He walks to a bench and takes a seat, “…Oh, Venom still sucks.”

Mark imitates Yukhei when he talks about Venom, making Yukhei scoff and give his best attempt to mock the other back. When the bus arrives, Mark bids Yukhei a farewell and hurriedly makes his way into the bus, seating himself near the window-side facing Yukhei. He waves to the other with a large smile plastered onto his face until the bus starts for the next stop.

.

Yukhei stirs from his sleep by the constant buzzing of his phone. When he’s able to keep his eyes open, he’s welcomed with a new group chat questioning his whereabouts.

 _(Message and 50+ from Jeno, Hendery, Chenle…)_  
**[junnie.]**  
hey, why isn’t xuxi picking up?

 **[jeno.]**  
is he sleeping?

 **[donghyuck.]**  
we have a game to go to why r we worrying abt him??

[jaemin.]  
he’s the best hype man,, he has to come :/  


**[hendery.]**  
the cheer squad would not be happy to hear that  


**[jaemin.]**  
i'd take it back if it wasn’t true :)  


Yukhei’s completely awake now, realizing he hadn’t gotten any game-day supplies ready. He sends the group a text confirming his presence and quickly texts Mark to meet him before the game at his. Mark sends him back an emoji rolling its eyes, and after a long pause there’s a simple ‘be there in ten’ that is Yukhei’s cue to get ready.  


Mark is at his exactly ten minutes after, ringing the doorbell excessively while Yukhei scrambles to get the door.  


The door swings open and Mark groans, “Is game day this important to you guys? I thought we’d meet at Jisung’s.”  
“It is! Come on, we gotta head out already otherwise we’ll be behind schedule— We’ll have to meet them later”, Yukhei pushes the other back out the door and leads him to the store.  


Mark pushes the cart around slowly as Yukhei brings all the necessary supplies: foam hands, streamers, face paint, posters.. silly string and marker paint.  


“Do we really need all of this? Why don’t you just add pom poms too while you’re at it,” Mark laughs.  


“Of course we do!…Do you think pom poms are a bit over the top?”, Yukhei turns around, a pair in hand already.  
Mark shakes his head, giggling, “god, please no! Let’s get checked out and meet the rest of them to put these together.” Yukhei grabs the cart from the other and insists that Mark ride on to the side of the cart so they can get to the register faster, and Mark after much reluctance, gets on. They’re checked out and ready for Jisung's in no time.  


When they arrive at the house, they’re met with a household already busy in preparation for the game. Only Jeno, Jisung, Chenle and Yangyang are on the team, but it seems everyone’s assigned themselves an extra number of roles while the others get ready for their playoffs.  


By the afternoon, they’ve applied face paint, made multiple posters, decorated their foam hands and packed the rest of their cheer gear to go. They reach the gymnasium of the playoffs early and find themselves the nearest bleachers to the court.  


Mark and Yukhei don’t end up sitting next to one another, much to the amusement of his friends. Donghyuck and Yangyang make kissy-faces at him and exaggeratedly winking at him. Yukhei rolls his eyes at them and Jeno offers him a pat on his head. It seems like Mark would do anything but stick by Yukhei before the game. Once the games started however, Mark returns with snacks in hand and takes a seat by Yukhei wordlessly handing him chips and a drink.  


“I really won’t know what’s happening, so you’ll have to tell me about every play, okay?”, Mark questions.  


Yukhei nods softly, “Sure thing.”  


The boys start off on a strong lead, holding it past through half-time and third quarter. Mark watches closely for when Yukhei cheers, mirroring his energy with the foam hand raised high and everything.  


The teams are stuck in a neck and neck battle through the final quarter, but when Chenle makes the buzzer beater shot, the entire stadium is filled with energetic screams to celebrate their victory. Yukhei jumps and hugs Mark excitedly cheering. “I—I don’t really do physical affection, Hei”, Mark tries to nudge the other off him unsuccessfully, laughing into the warm and lively energy exuded off the other’s hug.  


Yukhei springs back and turns away, “Sorry, I got a little too excited—”  


“No! It was nothing, it would’ve been weird if you kissed me or something..”, Mark trails off, clearing his throat as he laughs weakly.  


Yukhei’s hair stands on the back of his neck but he laughs along with the other, “Yep, weird.”  


Xiaojun and Hendery come down to the others, “We’re heading down, anyone want some more snacks? I’ve got cash I don’t mind blowing”. Hendery waves a ten in the air and Mark rushes to his side. They head to the stands while the others wait at the bleachers.  
Snacks in hand, the group decides to walk most of the way home together. Mark walks alongside Yukhei, but neither engage in conversation around them or with each another.  


“I don’t think we’re celebrating this enough— this year’s M.V.P. is my boyfriend! _Liu Yangyang_. My boyfriend. This year’s _M.V.P._!”, Donghyuck chirps.  


Yukhei heads to Jisung’s for a bit with some of them, while the rest of them head their separate ways after the bus stop. He uses up the last of his energy for the night playing games before he bids the others a goodnight and heads home for the night too..  
.  


Mark and Yukhei meet up to study together often, which actually goes much better for the both of them most of the time, since they don’t share any classes and are pretty good at keeping one another productive. Keyword: Most of the time—But Mark is in an unproductive mood which makes the other laze about instead of doing his work too.  


Mark gives up on pretending to do his work, slamming his laptop shut in frustration. Yukhei looks up and raises a brow at the other, “Are you done for the day?”. He follows after the other and pushes his laptop off his lap and onto the table, waiting for the other’s response.  
“I don’t want to go to work… I already do so much, and I still haven’t gotten employee of the month! Even after all my snooping around,” Mark whines, scooching up to lay his head on Yukhei’s lap.  


Yukhei surpresses the feeling in his stomach, “We both know that’s not why you do so much.”  


“Ok psychic. I like my job, we get it”, Mark rolls his eyes and sighs.  


“Alright, let’s go. I’ll take you there”  


“Nope, I’m not moving.”  


“You’re not going to be able to pay for your food without it”.  


“That was once! I had the money anyway, I just forgot my wallet!”  


Yukhei laughs softly and nudges the other to get up, “No excuses. And my leg is asleep now, move.”  


Mark huffs in annoyance but obliges, packing his work and heading for the comic store after.  


.

Hendery calls to Mark as they walk in, “Took you long enough, the new shipments came in. Hurry up!”  


“You didn’t open them yet, right?”, Mark rushes to the counter, leaving all traces of laziness untraceable.  


Hendery shakes his head and urges him to the back, where Mark opens the box hurriedly. Yukhei heads for the café, grabbing a coffee and scrolling through his phone to pass time. He gets an ad for marvel and stationary stores crossover, which is set for a release soon and sends it to Mark with pleading face emojis.  
Mark peeks out of the break room to look at Yukhei with a straight face, waving his phone to show he received the others message. Yukhei pouts, waving his phone back at him until Mark rolls eyes and texts back ‘no :)’. When Mark joins Yukhei for a drink, he’s still reluctant to visit the store, telling the other he won’t go unless he doesn’t buy a venom related product. Since it’s the only reason Yukhei would go, he drops the topic, turning back to his phone grumpily as he waits for Mark’s shift to finish. He can’t let go of the new line of items that are soon-to-be released and on the way to the station, Mark argues with him, “I’m not coming, all you do is complain about how they never have venom figurines and items like the ones you want.”  


“Don’t you think it’s a little unfair that they don’t? It’s unfair that super villains don’t get credit.. Heroes are only useful because of them”, Yukhei argues.  


“You’re talking as if you’re a villain you loser,” Mark scoffs. The two bicker until Mark reaches his house, a destination Yukhei is finally allowed to drop him off at (instead of their awkward partings multiple blocks previously, where Yukhei would make Mark text him when he had actually reached home so he could finally head for his own stop).  


Mark texts the other early on the weekend, immediately startling him out of bed.

 **[Mark.]**  
meet me at ur neighborhood’s park  


**[Yukhei.]**  
now??  


**[Mark.]**  
yes?? hurry up!

Yukhei nods at the phone, not realizing Mark can’t see it in his half-awake state. It takes Yukhei a record time of 10 minutes to get ready, but he’s still rushing down the street with a gift bag trying to tie a lace when he sees multiple missed calls.  


Mark sees him come down the hill and waves him over loudly, “...Were you asleep?”  


“Nope! Just had to get ready, sorry”, Yukhei clears his throat to hide any sign of the blatant lie.  


Mark smiles and reaches for the zipper of his bag, “.. I got you something.” Yukhei raises a brow but let’s the other continue. Mark lowers the flap for Yukhei to see, “Consider it a late birthday present, sorry I didn’t get you one then.” It’s the Venom figurine from the crossover Yukhei had bugged the other about constantly.  


Yukhei laughs, “Where did you get it? I already checked at the store in Incheon and they were sold out.” Yukhei pulls the box out of Mark’s bag and holds it, “You stole my idea.. I went out and bought you one too…”. He pushes his bag into the hands of the other and Mark shuffles through a series of tissue papers and candy to a Spider-Man figurine. Mark excitedly thanks Yukhei, clutching the gift in his arms tightly.  


“You care!”, Yukhei admires the figurine he receives.  


“Yeah? Of course, I felt bad and I was only joking then”, Mark laughs, kicking the ground.  


Yukhei nods thankfully, “Did going out and buying Venom change your mind about him?”  


“No? Spider-Man has better opponents than him! How could you say that when Kingpin is right there.”  


“Sure, but he isn’t any fun. Venom knows his opponent, he knows his skills, his powers and can counteract them. Admit it, that’s cool!”  


“Nope, Spider-Man is an amazing superhero without him.”  


“One he isn’t and even if he is, venom is a better villain than Spider-man could ever be. ”  


“He isn’t even a villain, why does that matter?"  


"Because it does, and he is. You just don’t want to admit it!”  


“I can’t believe we’re arguing about this—wow, you’ve become the nerd now...”  


Yukhei beams at Mark as if it’s the best compliment he's been given, making Mark laugh uncontrollably. They head for Xiaojun and Jeno's café . After hanging around the café till they’re given a discount, they pay for a small breakfast and have time to talk to their friends before heading back. Mark hurries over to Jeno with his card when Yukhei turns in surprise, “I said I’d cover it!”  


“I’m only returning the favor,” Mark claimed as Jeno finalized his payments. In a low voice, Mark continues, “Now you can’t use it against me for the last time”.  


“I knew it, you can never be nice just because! You already came to the game anyway”, Yukhei argues.  


Mark crosses his arms, pointedly reminding the other, “Did you not see that? I was just being so nice. Anyway, I had fun at the game so it didn’t feel like I was doing you a favor, let me have this!”  


Yukhei rolls his eyes to suppress the warm feeling in his heart.  


.

Donghyuck and Xiaojun chase behind Yukhei on campus, “It’s been weeks—you realize that the bet is still on, right? You still haven’t found a way to ask him out?” Donghyuck shifts to the front of Yukhei’s path, blocking him, “Should I dare you something worse?”  


“No.. I’m working on it! I’m just thinking that what if we work out better as friends? I don’t want to ruin what we have”, Yukhei mumbles.  


“Trust me, Mark likes you,” Xiaojun states.  


“Yeah, no—what? Your wishful thinking isn’t going to help me this time around,” Yukhei frowns.  


“No really, Hendery told me Mark talks about you all the time.”  


“Why didn’t he tell me!?”  


“I mean, do you want the help or not,” Xiaojun repeats.  


“Of course I do, I just didn’t know you guys were close enough to talk about us and not tell us…”  


“You’re thinking too much into it,” Xiaojun waves him off. “Go ask him and Jeno for help though, they’re easily your best bet.”  


Yukhei nods determinately and thanks the two, heading to the library to pull together a plan. It takes him nearly a week longer to finally have everything ready (namely his confidence.. since everything else may or may not have been ready for months), and he decides to prep in the break room. He’s laid out little streamers and changed the colors of the LED lights that cover the room to red and blue. He waits until Mark walks in at the end of his shift, when he’s left to clean and close for the night with Hendery.  


“You stayed?”, Mark asks surprised, opening new boxes to put on the display shelves.  


“Yeah.. I have something for you,” Yukhei hands him the wrapped gifts.  


“There’s no way you wrapped this,” Mark carefully unwraps the paper to reveal two limited edition Spider-Man comics. “Are you joking? Where did you find these?”  


“Why, did you already have those?”, Yukhei curses at Jeno and Hendery silently.  


“Huh? No, I don’t! These.. These are just the ones I needed to finish my collection,” Mark rubs the back of his neck, “Thank you”.  
Yukhei’s smile radiates brightly as he nods, and he hands the younger a final gift-wrapped item. Mark tears through it cautiously to reveal another comic book, scrunching his nose in thought.  


Mark stares at the cover for what seems like forever, finally turning to Yukhei, “Do you want to read it together?”  


They read the pages in silence on a large bean bag, and Yukhei waits for Mark at the end of each page to turn it to the next. It’s a collection of Yukhei’s most memorable moments with the other in a comic that, if someone asked Yukhei, he would say it’s the project he’s worked on the hardest since their entrance exams. From their first interaction even before having actually seen one another, to their recent exchange of figurines, the comic tells a story, _their story_. It’s missing a few of their interactions Mark deemed important enough to be in the comic, probably because they were too embarrassing for the other to depict. Mark places the comic down in the middle of a page and turns to Yukhei, “I don’t get it? How did you have time for this?  


Yukhei shrugs, “I hear time and money go a long way”. Mark punches him lightly, “No really, I mean.. Did you draw all of it?”  


“I’m an Illustrations major, it’d be useless to have someone else do this,” he grins proudly.  


Mark perks up, flipping through the comic, “How does it end?”  


Yukhei tries to stop him from flipping through, but Mark is already flipping through the last of the pages.  


“Oh, Uh.. I should—I’ll head out”, Yukhei hops off the beanie.  


“Yes”, Mark’s gazes into Yukhei’s eyes, closing the final page of the comic.  


_“What?”_  


“I’ll be your boyfriend.”  


“Are you saying that to help me finish the comic?”  


Mark sighs frustrated, “No, you idiot—”. He pulls Yukhei back down for a kiss, who immediately reciprocates it, pressing back into Mark's soft lips. Yukhei feels a million emotions hit him at once, melting him deeper into the kiss. He hopes Mark can’t feel his rapidly beating heart and squeezes his eyes shut tighter to savor the moment. They pull back slowly when they’re out of breath and sit upright, both red-eared and avoiding eye contact.  


“I was starting to think I’d have to ask you myself”, Mark breathes, tugging nervously at the loose strings on the beanie.  


“You were just waiting?” Yukhei feels his cheeks heating up more.  


“A little.. But this is nothing near how I imagined it to go!”, Mark rubs his arm. "I love it."  
Yukhei feels elated, “Mark Lee, would you do me the honor of being my boyfriend?”  


“I would love to”, Mark’s eyes shine as he giggles, leaning in to land a soft kiss on Yukhei’s cheek.  


.

When the semester’s over, Jisung invites the group of friends to the beach house before they spend the summer break with their families. They still haven’t told anyone—aside from Hendery, who happened to walk in after happily stating he had heard everything. From then, they decide to keep it subtle and place bets on which of their friends would notice first, and then break the news— Mark thinks it would be Donghyuck and Yukhei places his bet on Chenle (“He’s freakishly good at reading people, trust me”).  


After an hour long flight, the boys begin their trip by winding down once they’ve reached the house.  
Chenle throws his towels onto Yukhei’s bed, frustrated, “The waves are too rough today and I wanted to go swimming before we barbecue.”  


“Can’t you go after the sun sets?”, Yukhei looks up from his phone.  


“It’ll be too cold then,” he pouts at the elder and sprawls himself over the bed, “Even Mark thinks it’s too rough, and he was on the swim team since he was 10.” Yukhei doesn’t see how that was notable information, since Mark didn’t swim in oceans, but contained and temperate pools. He nods anyway, feeling sorry for the other and suggests they go out to buy snacks for the barbecue. Chenle groans but agrees to on the condition that they bring Jisung with, and they head out to the convenience store to stock up soon after.  


Mark is sitting outside with Jeno, admiring the small but rough waves that reach the shore.  


“You and Yukhei are officially together now, right?”, Jeno tilts his head, searching for a response.  


Mark gleams at the other, “Yeah, it’s—Wait, what? How did you know?”  


Jeno shrugs slyly, “You seem bubblier around him lately, I’m glad I was right.”  


Mark remembers their bet and pleads to the other, “You can’t tell Yukhei that you know, I’m trying to win a bet about who finds out first.”  


Jeno nods, zipping his mouth shut and throwing away the key.  


When Yukhei returns with Jisung and Chenle and an unhealthy load of snacks, they’re welcomed with everyone busy in the preparation for a scenic dinner before sunset. The waves are calmer now, and though Chenle complained about the water getting cold as the night approaches, he was the first in and last one out for the night.  


.

After a long dinner, Jeno brings a bottle and places it in the center of the table, “So, Truth or dare or Spin the bottle?” He counts the votes and spins it quickly. “Ok, Spin the bottle it is— and the first one is Mark..” he looks at the others to discuss who to pick in over-dramatic whispers and finally pops out of the huddle, “Mark and Yukhei”. Mark looks over to the other, swiftly cupping Yukhei’s face as he leans in for a kiss, giggling softly.  


When they pull back, they receive wide-eyed stares all around, “I’m sorry, are we missing something?”, Yangyang points at the two of them accusingly. Yukhei quickly realizes their setting, and a deep red blush spreads up his cheeks as Mark laughs again, pulling Yukhei’s hand into his own.  


Donghyuck immediately fires a series of questions at them, pointing a burnt marshmallow closely at them, “When was this? Why didn’t I kno—”  


“No! This is recent.. it’s only been two weeks,” Mark looks to Yukhei, who nods along.  


“I’m not going to kill you,” Donghyuck laughs, “I just can’t believe you made us wait a whole year for an answer you would have gotten the moment you two met.”  


“You don’t know that! He hated me when we first met!”, Yukhei argues.  


Mark confesses, “No I didn’t? You were awkward but endearing to watch and definitely a pain—but not because I didn’t like you. It was just excruciatingly painful watching you make horrible advances..”  


Yukhei sputtered, “You didn’t show any interest! This is so mean— I can’t believe you guys knew the entire time and didn’t say a single thing!”  


“You did only ask now,” Hendery smiles cheekily, warranting a shove by a pouting Yukhei. Mark quickly disperses their argument and suggests they watch a movie before turning in for the night. They lay out drinks and snacks across the table, cozying up with multiple pillows and blankets in front of the outdoor theater.  


They all stay awake through the movie, but Yukhei and Mark pay no attention to it, finding one another to be better topics of conversation, “You know I like you a lot, right?”, Mark turns to face Yukhei, reassuring the elder.  


Yukhei’s smile gleams brightly as he plants a soft kiss on Mark’s nose, “I know, I like you a lot too”. He wraps his arms around the younger gently, and both turn back to the movie with large smiles plastered on their faces as the calm waves and dim lights tuck them in for the night, and the laughter they share echoes down the strip of the beach.

**Author's Note:**

> ♡ i read 60+ marvel comic editions just to understand the characters better for 3.5 lines of markhei bonding so i hope you enjoy these nerds !  
> ♡ 9900fies: i could literally have not finished this without your help. there were times where i couldn't write for months but seeing your hard work and excitement motivated me like nothing else. i am so proud of all of u, we did it !! <3  
> ♡ habz: without your reassurance and guidance, this fic would be nothing but bones. i don't mean to be dramatic but your support and love for this fic has lead me to make it here. i've bugged you about this prompt since viewing opened up and you've been nothing but supportive for over 6 months. i love you and am eternally indebted to your putting up with me. you were my rock, inspiration and motivation throughout this journey and i love you forever for that and all else. i'm hoping this does not disappoint you.
> 
> thank u for making it this far if u did,, please leave kudos and comments if you can;; they'd mean the whole world to me!


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